Friday, March 06, 2009

Thursday patchwork

Yesterday I went to patchwork bearing gifts. But not any from me! Look at what Lorraine sent our patchwork group! We had showed such an interest in the Australian quilt books and patterns and techniques that Lorraine gathered up load of information for us to squeal over again! Oh the patterns we want to try!


Of course it is going to be up to li'l ol' me to read all the instructions and get them in my head and then relay the information to everyone else so I've got to spend some time going through this all. Lorraine even sent a CD of pictures of her quilts and quilting patterns and that was fun to look through! Let's see. Someone wants to make that penguin block and I want to make the frog block. Such cute embroidery patterns there too! We are never going to find time to do a fraction of the treasure sent to us!!! A GREAT BIG THANK YOU LORRAINE!!!

And thanks to the applique lesson Lorraine gave us when she visited, we made short work of our applique wreaths. Don't these look nice and colorful! I think we all did a great job on the button-hole applique even though it was a first for everyone. There will be a bias strip added in the middle and that is our homework for the week.

The pieced blocks are going to be made out of mostly my leaders-enders bin and some of Mrs. Furui's 2" squares ready to turn into leaders-enders. Hmm. Do you want to take a guess at which side of the box is filled with my squares and which side of the box is filled with Mrs. Furui's? Not hard to tell who has the organizational skills in this friendship. I cut squares and throw them in a pile and when needed plunge my hand into the bin, grab one, shake my hand until the others flutter back into the box. Mrs. Furui cuts precisely, irons and stacks her 2" squares by color and delicately riffles through a stack until she finds a suitable match for whatever she is making. Both ways work. Choose your own way.

Unfortunately all the pieced blocks (most of them are made) did not make a dent in our leaders-enders bins.

11 comments:

Kathie said...

what a fun package!
Love the new quilt your all working on.
the applique wreaths are bright and happy but I love the star blocks in the corner with all the little squares
oh a whole quilt like that would be amazing!
I love seeing what your group is working on.
The lady holding the magazine in her hand what is the quilt pattern that is in front of her? It looks like a medallion quilt?
would love to see it...I am so intrigued with medallions right now.
thanks
Kathie

Mrs. Goodneedle said...

Those L-E's have a way of multiplying that defy all understanding. The wreath blocks are stunning... if it makes you feel any better I don't know how to delicately riffle either!

The Calico Cat said...

While most of my "2 inch squares" look like yours & I pull like you do, I want mine to look like the other bin... :o)

Shasta said...

What a nice gift package from Lorraine. She is a treasure. The applique wreaths look beautiful. My scrap box definitely looks like yours, actually worse, because I don't have mine cut in squares, so it is a few boxes and bags of various size and shape fabrics.

Karen said...

Love the applique wreaths.

Melinda said...

In my mind I am organized like Mrs. Furui but in actually, my bins look worse than yours. I think these blocks are going to look wonderful surrounded by all the little squares.

artfilstitch said...

What a friend!..Lorraine's package is wonderful and the patterns will keep all of you busy for a while. I love the applique wreaths, so bright.
Liz

Leslie said...

My 2" squs look like Mrs Furui's; I just recently started sorting by color. I have a shoebox full to the top, been cutting and adding for many, many years. I've sewn many quilts from those squs and never seem to make a dent! :)

Leslie said...

My 2" squs look like Mrs Furui's; I just recently started sorting by color. I have a shoebox full to the top, been cutting and adding for many, many years. I've sewn many quilts from those squs and never seem to make a dent! :)

The Calico Quilter said...

I have kind of a Jekyll/Hyde approach to farbric organization. I keep throwing squares into the box until it looks like the one on the right and finally go ARRRRGH! WHAT A MESS! and make it look like the one on the left. Which it does for about 2 days, until I start looking for something!

amanda said...

What is it about Australian quilters? They are amazing! I am currently obsessed with the Material Obsession book which just came in the mail today. It is wonderful!!!